Perspectives
by Bowtiesandgracenotes99
Summary: This is a series of one-shots told in first-person that will go through some of my favorite episodes of the Danny Phantom series, each from a different character's perspective. Rated K .
1. Chapter 1

AN: Okay, so this won't exactly have a plot. It's mostly going to be fluffy canon with a little bit of my own headcanon mixed in, and parts of it will probably reiterate some of the stuff I've written before. It's going to be one one-shot per episode and each one will be from a different character's insight and thoughts. So basically, this is just what I'm going to work on until I figure out something to actually write about. Oh, and I don't own Danny Phantom. Ennnnjoy!

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**The Accident**

**Danny**

Everyone has a purpose. A calling in life, the reason they were born. It might be something they're naturally good at, or something that attracts them with such compelling force that they can't help but take action. It can be as simple as a career choice, or it can intrigue one's life until that person's very existence revolves around their passion. Some people realize their purpose when they're very young, before they become jaded and before the world can tell them no. For others, it can take years to sink in. For me, however, it was a little of both.

The day I turned five years old, I became fascinated with astronomy. My dad had taken me on a camping trip in the northern part of the Appalachian Mountains for my birthday. We were miles away from the nearest town by the time the sun began to slip behind the mountains in a myriad of dazzling colors, and we sat in appreciative silence as darkness replaced the fading daylight.

Although my first mountain sunset was beautiful, it was incomparable to my first glimpse of space without the obstructive dull haze of smoke and city lights. Just gazing into the nighttime sky peppered with clusters of stars was enough to instill a desire within me to venture out into the unknown, to explore the universe and all it had to offer. I knew right then and there, I wanted to be an astronaut.

I always took pride in being the only one in my class who was positive about what they wanted to do; the only one whose aspirations literally reached for the stars. When people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always straightforward and certain. I was fully aware of the risks, what with the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, but I figured that if just imagining the feeling of shooting past the cerulean atmosphere into the infinite expanses of space filled me with enthrallment, then the real experience would be indescribably better.

Of course, that was all before the accident. Every life has a transforming moment, an event that distinctly divides it into a before and an after, and the accident was that moment for me. After the accident, life became about helping others. Pictures of the Milky Way and NASA articles shared computer space with Ghost Zone information, and late-night ghost battles became more frequent than late-night stargazing. I began to realize that my love of astronomy had been pushed to the background, overshadowed by my new-found desire to help people.

At first, I was upset. I couldn't help but feel that I'd lost my direction in life, that my sense of adventure and curiosity had left me. It was as if I'd lost nearly a decade of shining hopes and dreams to a new desire that I didn't even understand. What I didn't see was that, although space travel seemed exciting and glamorous, the adventure to come was even more so. In setting aside my lifelong dream of walking on the moon, I realized that it wasn't really what I wanted, after all. My dream was to help other people, and even though a journey to the edge of the universe and back would have been awe-inspiring, it could never compare to what I had ahead of me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Mystery Meat**

**Tucker**

Looking back, the Lunch Lady was the first ghost Danny fought whose offense was major enough to be called an attack, and it ended up being pretty terrifying, seeing as the whole "ghost" thing was still new to Danny, Sam and I. Granted, not many things are more traumatizing than watching your best friend walk into a tube of wires and circuitry, get electrocuted and come out with ghost powers, but seeing piles of meat in your school's storage fridge come to life _has_ to run a fairly close second. Still, the only ghosts Danny had faced up until that point were relatively harmless, so when the Lunch Lady showed up in the cafeteria at Casper High, none of us thought much of it at first.

In all honesty, Sam and I were too wrapped up in our own problems to be of any real assistance to Danny. We were in the middle of some dumb argument over _meat_, of all the things to be fighting about. She'd always been an outspoken advocate when it came to individuality, but this time, she'd gone too far. She had relentlessly petitioned the school board until they agreed to change the lunchroom menu to fit her vegetarian diet, so of course, I had to fight for all things carnivorous. No matter how many times she insisted that the nasty stuff she called edible was "recyclable organic matter," it would always be known as garbage to me and the majority of the student body.

That's beside the point, though. I look back on those couple of days and cringe in embarrassment because of how childish Sam and I acted. Danny had barely had his powers for a month, and he still lacked control over them. He could have gotten seriously injured or even killed because of his inexperience, and all the while Sam and I were at each others' throats, even going so far as to organize protests and force him to take a side. Talk about being horrible friends.

One good thing did come out of Sam's persistent lecturing on the importance of individuality, though. After it was all over and Sam and I had made up, Danny decided to keep his ghost powers instead of asking his parents to remove them. Although Sam and I disagreed about a lot of things, I had to side with her when it came to that.

Sam wanted Danny to keep his powers because they made him unique, but I had noticed something else. Danny had seemed almost..._happier_ since he'd had the accident. That struck me as a little odd, but if my best friend was happy, I was going to do my best to help him stay that way. If that meant him keeping his powers, then I was all for it, and I was more than ready to back him up, regardless of how he chose to use them. I mean, I'd resolved to be a better friend, and what better way to show your friendship than to stand by your friends no matter what?


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thanks for reading so far, and thanks to Phantom Ice for reviewing! Oh, and sorry for the late update. I've been writing perspectives for other episodes for this story, and in case it wasn't clear before, I'm not doing every episode, just my favorite ones. The next chapter for this is going to be Bitter Reunions, from Vlad's viewpoint. I've also been thinking on ideas for a new story, probably one with a lot of DxS fluff. Anywayyyys, enjoy!

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**Parental Bonding**

**Sam**

On the ever-lengthening list of things I hate, quite a few things have held the top slot over the years. For example, there's the floral-printed dress, there's cheesy pop music, and let's not forget the _lovely_ way my parents wake me up every morning. I mean, _come on_. I have thick, black curtains for a very good reason, and it's not to let the sunshine in. However, there was one thing that I used to think would always, without fail, win the title of "Most Despised;" something that I would never have been caught dead associating myself with, and that would be the annual Casper High School Dance.

At first, I couldn't stand the idea of going to the dance. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever, only held as an excuse to remind the student body of the already blatantly defined social scene that was so prominent at Casper. Besides, Danny had just found (and lost, to none other than Paulina) some cursed amulet from the Ghost Zone, so I figured we had more important things to worry about than some pointless dance. Not to mention, Casper's social events were notorious for dirty dancing, and even though alcohol was forbidden, more than a few teenagers always staggered out thoroughly intoxicated. I had always wondered before why people would subject themselves to that kind of idiocy, but as Danny and Tucker rambled on about their prospective dates, the excitement became almost contagious, and I found myself more and more wishing I could go.

Now, I never, ever, not in a billion years would have _ever_ admitted it to anyone that I actually _wanted_ to go. If I was going to go at all, I was going with the excuse that my parents had forced me into it. They, of course, were elated at the possibility that their "troubled teenage daughter" might attend a social function, and they'd even bought me a dress that wasn't pink and frilly like every other piece of clothing they'd ever gotten me. No, this dress was not only exquisite, it was completely and totally me, and I would have worn it without so much as a protest, not that _they_ needed to know that.

The only problem was that no one had asked me to be their date. When one is an independent thinker like myself, their reign of non-conformity only extends so far, and, at the time, even I wasn't bold enough to show up to the dance without a date. So, instead of whining and moping around like any other girl would have done, I turned to the thing I knew best, which was, of course, sarcasm.

At that point, listening to Danny and Tucker's incessant babbling was becoming increasingly difficult to do without strangling them. They'd both gotten dates from the A-List. Tucker was going with Valerie and Danny was going with Paulina (how that happened, I'll never understand), which left me with no one. I mean, it wasn't like any other guy from Casper would, in a momentary lapse of sanity, decide to ask me. I was just another freshman, and even if I hadn't been, most people would sooner have swallowed acid than talk to the weird goth girl. So, I was resentful, and took it out on my best friends in the form of snarky comments and wisecracks.

In hindsight, the sarcastic approach was probably not the best method. If anything, it diminished my chances of getting a date, because by the time the night of the dance had arrived, I'd made so many remarks about how I "had better things to do," or how the dance was "so lame" that only someone who was completely clueless would have asked me. That's why I was so surprised when Tucker showed up at my door at the last minute, mumbled something about how Valerie had bailed on him, and asked me to go with him, as friends.

I squealed and jumped up and down like a starstruck pre-teen at a Jonas Brothers concert, in my mind, of course. On the outside, I feigned uncertainty, making a couple of halfhearted excuses before finally rushing inside to change into the dress that I'd given up hope of ever wearing.

The dance was interesting, that was for sure. Danny spent the majority of it running back and forth between keeping his parents away from Lancer and trying to find a way to get the cursed amulet back from Paulina. Tucker and I, being his best friends and all, figured that we should probably help him, so when I saw Paulina go into the bathroom, amulet strung around her neck like a prized trophy, I recognized my chance and followed her.

It was safe to say I already harbored a fair amount of disdain for Paulina, so you can imagine my rage when she looked down her snotty nose at me and told me with a huff of arrogance that, not only had she been faking her sudden interest in Danny, she'd been using him in some twisted plot to make _me_ jealous by agreeing to come to the dance as his date. Somehow, she'd gotten the impression that the amulet belonged to me, and once she realized that Danny and I weren't a couple, she clasped it around my neck and promptly left to go dump him. After that, I don't exactly recall what happened, because I wasn't in the bathroom anymore. I was outside, laying face-down on the ground, when I heard Danny's voice.

He called my name and helped me up; explaining that I had been the one to turn into a dragon instead of Paulina because I had been the one wearing the amulet. He then proceeded to ask me how said amulet had ended up around my neck.

I couldn't tell him the truth. I didn't have the heart to do it, not when it meant hurting him. Instead, I told him about how I'd played along when Paulina had told me that she thought the amulet was mine, leaving out the part about how she'd been using him. Hoping that he'd forget about her before she came back to break up with him in the cruelest way possible, I grabbed his hand and dragged him back towards the dance before he could say another word.

So, that was that. Paulina had gone off to who-knows-where, Danny got the amulet back, and we had one last _friendly_ dance together. I did, however, make a promise to myself that I would never let him find out the truth about Paulina. He was better off not knowing, even if he did continue to think highly of her. I knew I'd have to waste more of my life listening to him go on and on about how perfect she was, but I figured that his self-esteem was more than worth my time. Besides, he would have done the same for me, right?

I didn't know how wrong I was.

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AN: The last line is in reference to "Double Cross My Heart," where Danny accuses Gregor of being a spy. Basically, Danny doesn't spare Sam's feelings as she does for him in Parental Bonding. Just wanted to clear that up. :)


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks to those who have reviewed! You guys are all so awesome! :') Hellbreaker, I agree with you that Danny was right to be suspicious of Gregor, but I also believe that Sam doesn't think so and that she was outraged when Danny accused Gregor of being a spy. You and I have the advantage of being omniscient and seeing both points of view, but I was attempting to make it sound more like it was coming from her point of view. I hope I did okay. Anyways, on with the story!

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**Bitter Reunions**

**Vlad**

Being one of the richest men on the planet most definitely has it's advantages. Throughout the world, you're considered the very epitome of success, a household name in all but the furthest-reaching countries. You can live like an emperor, and you want for nothing. You can do whatever you want; go wherever you want, whenever you want to. However, as with all things, great wealth and fame come at a cost. There are things that money cannot purchase; and in my case, the one thing I can't buy, the one thing that is forever out of my near-omnipotent grasp, is a meaningful relationship.

When I sent out invitations for a college reunion to be held at my estate, I did so with the intention of luring Jack Fenton and his family to my mansion simply so that I could reconnect with his wife, Maddie. I hadn't spoken to her, or Jack, for that matter, since a few days after the accident that Jack caused-a ghost portal gone awry-when the three of us were in college. That accident gave me ghost powers and murdered my social life in one cruel twist of fate's dagger, and it left me alone to pick up the pieces.

I had been deeply in love with Maddie, and was certain she'd felt the same way at the time, so I'd been planning to talk to her before I had the accident. But, as my misfortune goes, I was hospitalized with a severe case of ecto-acne. One excruciatingly endless month later, I was allowed my leave, but no one was waiting to welcome me home. No, the first thing I witnessed when I arrived back at the university was Jack, my best friend, _kissing_ Maddie, the love of my life.

The devastation had slowly morphed into resentment that built up and boiled during the following twenty years. It was all Jack's fault; my loneliness, my sudden lack of purpose. I was intent upon getting my vengeance and taking the woman I loved back in one move at the reunion. I'd been sending ghosts from the Ghost Zone to Amity Park for months in an attempt to gauge Jack's ghost-fighting skill level, but a few weeks ago they had stopped reporting back to me, and the few that did return told grandiose stories of a new ghost-a young boy, who was half-human, half-ghost, like myself. This piqued my interest, and I hoped to glean some information on Amity Park's latest ghostly resident at this reunion from my former classmates.

I suppose I should have seen it coming from miles away, since Jack had been the blubbering idiot who caused _my_ accident. In fact, it should have been like a slap in the face, it was so obvious. Nevertheless, my astonishment was unquenchable upon discovering in the midst of a one-sided fight that this infamous ghost boy's human half was, indeed, Jack's son, Daniel.

My first reaction was fury. Jack's careless foolishness had now not only caused his so-called best friend's life to fall apart, it had endangered his own son's as well. But, as I thought about it, I began to realize that this might have been the opportunity I'd been so desperately wanting. Maddie might never again love me as she had when we were in college, but young Daniel had his entire life ahead of him. Besides, Jack's family should have been mine in the first place, so what better way to get revenge than to steal his own son right out from under his oblivious nose?

The fact that Daniel was a hybrid as well only benefited the situation. He was inexperienced, and still lacked control of basic powers such as flight and invisibility. I could teach him everything I'd acquired in twenty years; I could provide him a luxury that was never available to me. The more I thought upon the idea, the better it seemed. Still, I knew Daniel was rash and would not join me without a fight, so I needed a plan to win him over.

The next night's class reunion party provided the perfect setting to do just that. I sent Daniel to my lab to fetch a present for his father that didn't exist, having hired Skulker in advance to ambush the boy and ensure that he became well-acquainted with my latest invention, the specter energy neutralizer. I had hoped that after revealing my ghost half and offering to teach Daniel what I knew about being a halfa, he would accept my offer willingly and renounce his fool of a father. Instead, he only struggled harder against the invention that had zapped his ghostly abilities and mouthed off to me like a typical teenager. Irked, I left him to return to the party and exact the second stage of my revenge on Jack.

I don't know how Daniel escaped, but a few moments later he had located the party once more and began to try to sabotage my plan. We battled, the upper hand guaranteed to go to me because of my experience; but somehow it ended with Daniel overshadowing his father and putting me in a compromising position, forcing me into a surrender.

I left that fight extremely disappointed and still thirsting for revenge. Jack Fenton had won, yet again. The bitterness ate away at my insides like acid. Why could no one understand that all I wanted was someone to care for; someone who would care for me in return? As I sat alone in my private study the next night after everyone had left, I held my head in my hands. Daniel would join me eventually, no matter how much he protested. I _would_ get my revenge and I _would_ get what I wanted. I always did, in the end. Jack Fenton would rue the day he betrayed _this_ half-ghost, and Daniel would regret ever saying no to Vlad Masters.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, especially Phantom Ice! I think you've reviewed every single one of my stories and I really appreciate it! Anyways, on with the story, and enjoy. :)

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**My Brother's Keeper**

**Jazz**

Being an aspiring psychologist and all, I've encountered a multitude of upsetting situations over the past couple of years. There are kids whose parents have been divorced who need someone to talk to, or they might have lost a family member to an accident or a terminal illness. Some kids can even begin to feel so lonely that they become suicidal, but I've always taken pride in my ability to talk anyone out of a situation and let them know that they're not alone. Despite this ability, I remember being terrified at one point that there was someone that I might not be able to save; one whose case was so heartbreaking, not because I couldn't help him, but because I should have been able to prevent his depression in the first place: my little brother, Danny.

I first became aware of Danny's change in demeanor after the ghost portal accident that he'd had at the beginning of his freshman year. I remember the terror and tension during the ride to the hospital and the horrifying realization that he might not make it; that I might have lost my precious baby brother to one of my parents' stupid ghost inventions. I remember the relief and thankfulness that permeated the room when the doctor brought the news that Danny would live, and that he could go home in a matter of days. I was overjoyed; my brother was going to be okay! I never considered that, although he might be physically healthy, his mental state was on a steeply declining slope that would carry him into the depths of self-loathing in the weeks that followed, and the worst part was, I didn't see it until it was almost too late.

When I first noticed Danny's sudden change in behavior, I decided that my first course of action would be to inform Mr. Lancer. Danny needed to talk to someone, or his repressed frustration would build up until it came out the wrong way, and I wasn't going to let that happen. Together, we decided that the best thing would be for Danny to see Ms. Spectra, Casper High's new guidance counselor, who had agreed to help liven up the student body in time for Spirit Week.

Obviously, Danny was less than thrilled. All his frustration and anger was now directed at what he saw as a meddling, overbearing sister. The more I tried to talk to him and explain that I was just trying to help, the more withdrawn and upset he seemed to get. It became so bad that I had to turn to Sam and Tucker to get information, and even _they_ pushed me away, muttering something about how they were supposed to keep Danny's secrets from me.

Later on, I ran into the three of them at Elmer's Pharmacy. As soon as Danny saw me he got out of his seat, shoving me into it and exclaiming that his friends were on my side as he ran towards the back exit. Okay, that was bordering on insanity. Hoping to catch him by surprise in the alley outside, I raced after him; but what I saw next caught _me_ off guard instead.

My fourteen-year-old little brother had just transformed into Amity Park's famous ghost boy and shot out of the alleyway towards the sky.

I couldn't believe my eyes. No, I refused to. So many questions arose, rapid-firing through my mind like bullets from a machine gun. How in the _world_ could this have happened? Why hadn't I figured it out before now? How had my _parents_ not figured it out yet?

There wasn't any time for questions, though, because Sam and Tucker had noticed me standing there gaping like an idiot. When I asked them about what I'd just seen, they went on the defense, and that was when I remembered what they'd said about keeping Danny's secrets.

Slowly, it all started to make sense. Danny had been depressed ever since his accident with the ghost portal. Around the time that he'd had his accident, the ghost boy had started to make regular appearances in Amity Park. His friends were always covering for him during his mysterious disappearances that had become increasingly frequent since the accident. Then, there was the similarity with their names. Danny _Fenton_, Danny _Phantom_? Too many pieces of evidence said that the only logical conclusion was that the ghost portal accident had turned my brother, Danny Fenton, into the ghost boy...

I quickly feigned ignorance, stammering something about how I needed to work on my Spirit Week speech that I would be making the next day. Satisfied that Danny's secret was still safe, Sam and Tucker ran back inside, and I went to the one of the pharmacy's windows where I witnessed none other than Danny fighting off a ghost that looked like a wolf. He was losing badly until the wolf ghost morphed into a green blob and flew through the ceiling. I watched as Danny floated through the roof a few seconds later, head hanging in dejection and shame, and my heart broke for him.

That night at dinner, I tried to assure him that I would always be there for him to talk to, no matter what. He seemed to be feeling a little better after that, but the next day as I was making my Spirit Week Speech, he came hurtling through the room and grabbed me right off the podium, continuing to fly until we phased through a wall. We landed on the floor in the hallway and I stared at him, wondering why he'd done that until a large, black ghost grabbed him and pulled him through a door.

I realized with a start that Danny must have been trying to save me from that ghost, and now _he_ was in trouble. I hurried to my locker and grabbed the Fenton Peeler that I'd swiped from the lab on a hunch and attacked the malevolent ghost with it. Layer upon layer started to fall away, revealing a very old and haggard Ms. Spectra.

Danny sucked her into a Fenton Thermos, which left us alone to stare at each other again. After a few moments of studying him and debating on whether or not I should tell him what I knew, I decided against it. I knew he would tell me his secret when he was ready, and I was willing to wait for him to get to that point.

In the days that followed, the cloud of sadness that had been so present over Danny seemed to lift, and along with it, my anxiety. I decided to aid him in his ghost-fighting from the sidelines, resolving to never let him know that I knew his secret unless he might be in danger because of it. But, all ghost problems aside, he was back to his old mellow self. He was enjoying life again, and I can honestly say that that was all that really mattered to me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Shades of Gray**

**Valerie**

I've always been the kind of person who respects the levels of society and what they mean. Upper class, middle class, and the dreaded lower class, all with clearly defined boundaries and rules. To be in the elite upper class like I was, you have to have some special quality; be it wealth or talent or even simple charisma. Everyone must always be in their place, because without lower and middle, there's nothing to support the upper, and the entire social structure collapses in a heap of chaos.

The characteristic that qualified me as A-List material was my money. Never in my life had I even been moderately poor, but I hadn't been modest about it, either, buying and flaunting new clothes and makeup every chance I got. My father was one of the most valued security technicians at Axion Labs, and he made enough to support not only a large house on the nicer end of town, but my social life as well.

All of that changed the day I met the ghost boy and his dog. Huge, ugly, slobbering and green; the mutt reminded me of a meaner version of Clifford the Big Red Dog, only without the red. The ghost kid was just as strange-looking, with his shock of white hair and freaky mad scientist jumpsuit that looked rather out of place on a ghost; not that I knew that either of them were ghosts at the time. All I knew was that my dad and I were in the middle of giving the manager of Axion a tour of the new security technology that had been recently implemented there when the mongrel and it's owner decided to wreak havoc, leaving a trail of destruction through the building and through my life.

Obviously, my dad was fired. The manager assumed that his apparent lack of competence was the problem, when in reality, I knew who was to blame. That insolent little punk was responsible for this, for letting his dumb dog obliterate Axion Labs and for wrecking my entire life. We had to sell our house and possessions just to buy food and an apartment, but somehow, I wasn't surprised when the evil canine from hell and his ghostly owner came back to play, and by "play," I mean destroy the few valuable things we had left before we'd even sold them, along with my clothes and the furniture we'd planned to keep.

It was just my luck that three of Casper's biggest losers would come strolling by during our yard sale. Danny, Tucker and Sam weren't exactly what you'd call popular. In fact, even with the downgrades, I was _still_ closer to the A-List than they were. So, when they expressed concern for my recently-turned-sour state of affairs, I figured I didn't need their sympathy. It was likely that they were just trying to take advantage of the fact that I was still more popular than they were, and there was no way I'd be caught associating with them, penniless or not.

I might as well have, though, because the next day at lunch when I informed my so-called "friends" that I'd sold my Dumpty Humpty concert tickets to help pay for the moving truck, they forced me to leave their table, without so much as a goodbye.

I can't describe how painful it is to have the entirety of a group that you once considered your friends turn on you because of something as trivial as money. But, as I know now, a friendship based on money-or any material possession, for that matter-is no friendship at all. Still, I didn't understand that back then, and I was devastated when the entire A-List ditched me.

_Of course_, Tucker would notice me sitting by myself and decide to take advantage of my misery by trying to flirt with me. I was having none of it, but just as I was telling him to leave me alone, that mangy dog appeared and started making a mess of the cafeteria like he'd done at Axion Labs, with the ghost boy not far behind him.

As I tried to wrap my mind around the unbelievably massive amount of misfortune I'd been facing as of late, Tucker mumbled something about the two of them being ghosts. After the initial shock wore off, it got me thinking. If I could do some research, maybe I could get a better idea about what was going on. I made a mental note to stop by the library after school and see what they had to offer on the subject of ghosts; namely on how to get rid of them.

Later that night, my dad informed me that Axion was going to give him a second chance at guarding what was left of the building by himself on the night watch and, before leaving, gave me a package that came in the mail for me from Wisconsin. I was positive that I didn't know anyone who lived there, so I opened it with a generous amount of caution to find a note that read "Heard about your recent ghost troubles-hope this helps." It was simply signed "Vlad," and upon removing the note from the box, I discovered what seemed to be..._state-of-the-art ghost hunting equipment?_

I didn't know who this Vlad was or why he had sent me ghost-hunting equipment; just that he had a sense of timing that bordered on ironic. There was a suave red jumpsuit that fitted me to perfection, accompanied by sleek weapons and a jet sled. Elated, I wasted no time in trying out my new toys at the park as soon as my dad had left for the night.

To say I was rusty with the equipment would be an understatement. I nearly toppled off the jet sled several times, and my aim was so awful, I couldn't have hit the broad side of a barn. My goal had been to capture and destroy the ghost kid and his pet, but they escaped after I lost concentration and fell for what seemed like the millionth time. The only things I found after that were Danny and Sam, kissing each other behind the bushes. Thoroughly disgusted, I flew away as fast as my jet sled could take me. Yeah, I definitely needed more practice, or at least some more information on ghosts.

I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to get more information than when Tucker, who apparently didn't understand the meaning of "leave me alone," told me the next day at school that Danny's parents were ghost hunters. Associating with Tucker out of the kindness of my heart was never going to happen, but he seemed to know a _lot_ about ghosts. If he knew more than he was letting on... I decided to start spending a little more time with him until I could figure out my next move.

A few more fights with the ghost boy had me improving my skills with the ghost-hunting equipment and I found myself getting confident enough to go back to Axion Labs and hunt him down; under the guise that I "just wanted to see my dad in action," of course. As I'd assumed, he was there with his dog, and I went on the offense. We fought, but just as I had him in a position to finally send him into oblivion, I heard my dad coming down the hall with Axion's manager.

I couldn't let them see me like that, all decked out in ghost-hunting gear that I couldn't explain how I'd gotten in the first place. I was at a loss for words before Tucker appeared out of nowhere and intentionally trapped himself in the Axion Security System, saving my dad's job and rescuing me from having to make excuses. I didn't know why he was there or even how he'd gotten into the building, but I had to hand it to him; he was persistent when it came to girls.

The ghost kid still got away, though, and I wasn't settling for that. Not by a long shot. I was going to make him remember what he'd done to me, and I wasn't going to stop until he and other ghosts like him had suffered just as much as I did. I had to do it, I told myself as I sat brooding in my bed that night. For the good of Amity Park and for the safety of my dad, but most importantly, for myself. I couldn't count on anyone but myself to do the right thing. If I didn't defend my town's safety, then who would?

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AN: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! You guys are amazing. Oh, and sorry about the weak ending. I know I've had sort of weakish endings the past couple of chapters, but it'll get better, I promise! Next up is Fanning the Flames, from Sam's perspective. :)


	7. Chapter 7

AN**:** Hello, readers! I'm glad you're still with me. Yeah, Phantom Ice, though Valerie is probably one of my least favorite characters, I'm in a situation similar to hers in that my dad lost his job and I lost a lot of friends because of it. I won't explain all of that here though. In other news, I most likely won't be updating as frequently because, you guessed it, school! Being a junior in high school is tricky business, y'know. Anyways, enjoy, and please feel free to review!

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**Fanning the Flames**

**Sam**

If you want to make me angry, you don't have to do much. I have to admit, I'm not the most patient person in the world; and I have no qualms about letting people know, in _excruciating_ detail, how I feel about something. American consumerism, animal mistreatment, my parents' snobbish disregard for my individuality; the list is endless. Even just seeing the A-List in the morning at school can put me in an irritable mood. My point is, a lot of things can infuriate me, but if you really want to see steam come out of my ears, the best way to do it is to mess with my relationship with my best friend like Ember McLain did.

Don't get me wrong, though. Long before Ember even showed up, I had started to notice little moments, barely there if you didn't know what you were looking for, that could have been interpreted as romantic between Danny and I. For instance, the fake-out make-out we'd had a couple of weeks before. We both knew it was just to throw Valerie off of Danny's trail, but after it was over, he couldn't stop staring at me with that longing, lovesick look that he usually reserved for Paulina. Then, there was the time that he almost got frostbite and I grabbed his hands to warm him up, only to realize a second too late and much to my embarrassment that what I'd just done could have been misconstrued as something more than friendly.

Not that I didn't have feelings for Danny. Without a doubt, I loved him as my best friend, and by that point I had even started to wonder if he could become something more. But I most definitely was _not_ in love with him, thank you _very_ much, and nothing pissed me off more than when Ember stepped in and played with our feelings.

At the start of Ember's rise to fame, she appeared to be yet another untalented, unoriginal pop singer: annoying, but, for the most part, harmless. Before it came to light that she was a ghost intent upon taking over the world and enslaving the human race, Danny and I didn't give the fact that we were the only two teenagers in Amity Park unaffected by her music much thought. We dismissed Tucker's (and the rest of the town's) obsession with Ember as a slightly-more-fanatical-than-usual reaction to someone who was just another teen idol thirsting for attention.

Of course, when Ember showed up at our school and started doing some freaky mind-control thing with her guitar, the only logical conclusion was that she was a ghost. Obviously, Danny tried to fight her off, but to no avail. She escaped, leaving a crowd of disoriented teenagers and a very confused Mr. Lancer in her wake. It got even worse when Tucker showed up to school the next day completely decked out in Ember merchandise, from the singer's signature gray skull boots to a frightening attempt at recreating her flaming turquoise hair. Hoping that Ember's spell would be broken, Danny and I tied him to a chair in Lancer's classroom in front of one of the new subliminal study aid machines our school had recently purchased while we tried to figure out how to stop Ember from taking over the world.

I'm ashamed to say that I was too busy acting like a typical teenage girl in a raging sea of hormones to realize the reason that Ember's music wasn't affecting me. I was wearing a pair of Fenton Phones, which served to filter out spectral noise. It should have been more than obvious, but one minute Danny was complementing me on my intelligence and the next, we were flying through the air and ogling each other like the lovebirds we so adamantly protested that we weren't. Eventually, we got so distracted that we crashed into a large cardboard cutout of Ember herself before remembering that we were supposed to be trying to defeat her.

If I thought _I_ was acting like a pathetic, lovestruck teenager, nothing could have prepared me for what happened when _Danny_ became the smitten one. With one simple love spell, Ember had him out of her way and straight into mine. Besides nearly plummeting to my death when he decided he "wanted to be closer" to me, I was more than creeped out upon discovering a collection of things that used to belong to me spread out on his bed when I went to his house to get him before Ember's midnight concert. There were old middle school photos of me, notes I'd passed him in school, a lock of my _hair_...even some of my _chewing gum_. How he'd gotten _that_, I didn't want to know.

That was when it finally dawned on me that I was wearing the Fenton Phones, and that I had been the entire time. One realization led to another, and I remembered with a start that we'd left Tucker in the school for almost twelve hours.

Feeling guilty and slightly helpless, I dragged a still-spellbound Danny to the school to grab Tucker before heading to Ember's concert. Tucker's twelve hours in front of the subliminal study aid machine hadn't quite worn off, and he got us caught while trying to sneak in and turn the power off. Ember sent a few of the starstruck jocks from our school acting as security guards to watch us until she could finish her concert. We were thoroughly trapped, and things were looking worse by the second.

I was running out of options, so I didn't really have a choice but to do what I did next.

Seeing as Danny didn't plan on leaving me to stop Ember anytime soon, I figured I needed to do something to break the spell. I got an idea, and before even really thinking it through, my lips were on Dash's, who just so happened to be the security guard holding me.

The instant I saw the pained look on Danny's face, I was flooded with regret. Even if his crush had been spell-induced, no one deserved that kind of heartbreak, and to say I felt awful would be the understatement of the year.

I tried to stammer out an apology to him, but he was too hurt and angry to really listen. Instead, he took his pain out on Ember, and, after getting Tucker's horrendous singing to break her worldwide spell, sucked her into the Fenton Thermos. After that, he seemed to be feeling a bit better, and we made up. Ember was gone, we were still best friends, and all was well.

But all wasn't well. I was still enraged beyond belief that Ember had tampered with Danny's feelings like that, and I was furious that I'd had to break the spell in such a painful way. I mean, even if it hadn't been real love, it still hurt him, and I wasn't okay with that.

There was one thing I was the most angry at, though; something I never would have admitted to anyone because I was too ashamed to say it, and too afraid of the truth to face it. But, it was there, and no matter how I tried to think my way out of it, the inevitable conclusion was always the same.

I was most angry with myself, for wishing Danny's feelings had been real.


	8. Chapter 8

**13**

**Danny**

There's nothing better than knowing your city is safe and that you're the reason why. If someone had asked me before the accident what true happiness was, I probably would have mumbled something about Portal 2 and Triple Nasty Burgers. But, as is inevitable, things change; and in my case, for the better. I'll skip the story about replacing my self-centeredness with a more fulfilling purpose and say that there's another kind of satisfaction, a kind that's different from selfish and selfless because it's a mixture of sorts between the two. It's the kind of happiness that satisfies because, by helping your loved ones, you're helping yourself. It doesn't come from rescuing an entire town in mortal danger, but from keeping the people you care about out of harm's way. It's the kind of protection that doesn't involve freaky ghost powers or Fenton gadgets; just me, my sister, and a very persistent boyfriend.

Ghost or not, Johnny 13 was definitely _not_ Jazz's type. Everything about him screamed rebellious, from the black leather biker jacket to his flippant attitude toward adults. The last person I thought to worry about was Jazz. I mean, come on, she was at the top of her class and had never gotten a detention in her life! As far as I knew, she was into the quiet, studious type; the kind of guy who liked to read and would never dream of owning a motorcycle.

Apparently, I thought wrong. I guess opposites really do attract, because when Johnny saved my sister's life by whisking her out of the path of a wayward rollercoaster, I watched her fall head over heels in the span of five seconds. Between his awful attempts at smooth talk and her eyelash-batting that would put a hummingbird's wings to shame, he even found time to give her his scarf.

That struck me as a little odd, because I couldn't figure out why on earth he would have something like that. It was obviously a girl's scarf, and Johnny didn't look like the type who would be into dressing in drag. All I knew was, he was a ghost and he was messing with my sister, which was _plenty_ for me to get worked up about.

When Johnny said he'd give Jazz a ride home, I didn't know he'd be staying there. It was a good thing I got home when I did, because if I'd walked in one second later, I would have been an unwilling witness to a make-out session, and watching my sister kiss a boy was _so_ not on my bucket list. As I glared at Johnny and wished that looks could annihilate, I noticed Jazz was wearing a red leather jacket that looked like it had walked straight out of the fifties and onto her body. Go figure, Johnny had given her more clothes and they hadn't even known each other for a day.

Jazz _would_ take him down to the lab so they could be alone, but it wasn't going to happen. Not on my watch. As soon as they'd disappeared down the stairs together, I told my parents that Jazz was "alone in the lab with some boy." I put extra emphasis on the word "boy," and that had them racing to the lab at the speed of light. Jazz was livid.

My concern and irritation only increased when Johnny dropped by our school the next day to pick up Jazz and go on a romantic outing in the park. Of course, I followed, after fighting off Johnny's unlucky Shadow. I crouched in a tree above their heads once I found where they were sitting and could barely make out their conversation until I saw Johnny trying to give her..._a ring?_

First the scarf, then the jacket, and now _this_? He'd gone way too far.

I purposefully let them catch me spying, hoping to put an end to or at least postpone whatever was going on. Having an angry sister was way better than having a sister with a ghost for a boyfriend.

More than annoyed, they ratted me out to my parents, who were actually pleased with my attempts to protect Jazz. But, regardless of that, I caught Johnny and Jazz sneaking around in in the lab again the next night.

Johnny was beginning to approach a stalkerish level of persistence. He kept trying to get Jazz to accept that ring, but I noticed something funny about the whole situation. When the jacket and scarf slipped off of her shoulders, he made a point of pulling them back up, and I don't think it was out of concern that she was cold. Even when he used his stupid Shadow to cause a bookshelf to fall on me, I didn't realize what was going on. It was only when he put the scarf, the jacket _and_ the ring on Jazz and then used her finger to open the genetic lock on our portal that it dawned on me that something was up.

On an impulse, I stole the ring off of Jazz's finger. Johnny sent Shadow after me to get it back, and by the time I'd returned and used the Dork of Darkness to destroy the Fenton Genetic Lock and close the portal, Johnny was pissed off enough to chase me himself.

Needless to say, I defeated them, with Sam and Tucker's help. It was too easy, really. What wasn't easy was thinking about how Jazz was going to take the news. Discovering that the guy you thought was perfect is a lying scumbag and a jerk isn't the greatest confidence booster, especially when your little brother called it first, and I hated the thought of seeing her hurt and embarrassed.

Surprisingly enough, she took it well, and even thanked me for looking out for her. It kind of made me think about how our roles had been reversed; how I had become the overprotective sibling this time instead of her. It made me grateful to have a sister like Jazz, but most of all, it made me appreciate that she would always have my back no matter what, and that she was someone who I could do the same for in return. Even if I wasn't ready to tell her my secret yet, I knew that she would always be there, ready to listen to whatever I had to say. If Jazz didn't listen to me, then I don't know who would, and I shudder at the thought of what my life might be like if I didn't have her.


End file.
